Room

Room

By Emma Donoghue

I started Room purely because I will be taking an online class for the month of April on leading adult book discussions. I didn’t know much of anything about it before I started it. The cover, even, is less than descriptive.

Room is told from the point of view of a five-year-old boy named Jack. It starts with, “Today I’m five. I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the dark I’m changed to five, abracadabra.” He has lived his entire life in Room with his Ma, completely and utterly secure and content. Ma is Jack’s best and only companion, with the exception of ‘Old Nick,’ who only comes late at night, after Jack is nestled into Wardrobe. Early on in the novel, through details Jack picks up but may not understand, the reader comes to realize that, though Jack is perfectly content, all is not right.

When Jack turns five, Ma begins to tell him about life outside of Room. Formerly, Jack had believed that everything outside of Room was Outer Space, and everything in TV was not real. Ma conjures an escape plan for the two of them, in which Jack must pretend to be dead. Their harrowing escape attempt is successful, but when they arrive in Outside, Jack must learn to adapt to the wide variety of things he had never experienced before, like other rooms with objects in different locations, wind on his face, and even having other people look at him.

Donoghue did an excellent job of adopting the voice of Jack throughout the book. I felt like I could almost hear him audibly prattling away to me! I was able to understand how confusing the world is for Jack—imagine believing that the only thing real was your eleven-foot room and then finding out that there was much, much more to the world! Donoghue skillfully made known to the reader how many sacrifices Ma makes for Jack in Room in order to keep him safe and happy.

The closeness of Jack’s and Ma’s relationship is beautiful, but it almost bordered on uncomfortable for me. First is the disconcerting realization that Jack is still nursing at five. Then, I realized that baths and going to the bathroom are not private affairs in Room. (Really, how could they be?) When they escape from Room, Jack must gradually learn that he can be away from his Ma.

Room is an excellent read. I highly recommend it, and I would love to know what you think of it!

Find Room at Hachette Book Group | Emma Donoghue